The layers get a fat cheque.
The bidders get a fat cheque.
The Tax Payer fit the bill.

That sounds just about right.
Looking forward to see the bonuses at NR.
One thing is sure, the government is not going bankrupt with all the taxes and repossession, but we are.

laurent, london, uk

Is there an uncomfortable parallel to be found between the 'big club' mentality of Newcastle United (sponsored by Northern Rock......sorry = the tax payer), which has not seen success for many a long year, and that of this Government's willingness to similarly squander the supporter's (taxpayers) hard earned gate-money (taxes/Government Money?/ My Money!) on ill advised and very expensive purchases?

The facility with which the national pot is defined as Government Money or TaxPayer's Money according to the direction of the wind is quite unnerving. Perhaps JFK had it right with "It's the economy, stupid!", or more appositely 'it's the stupid economy' in this case. = same words, arranged differently = different meaning I think.

If tis bank is to be "shrunk" in accord with EU regulations, will it still be valued at as much as £100million when "returned to the private sector".?

Keith , Nottingham,

How the hell is a bank restricted in its competitive endeavours by European laws and therefore unlikely - particularly in this case - to attract new customers, ever going to pay back a penny to anyone?

Tony Jones, Grantham, Lincs

Labour & Incompetent Nationalisation............2
Taxpayers & Common Sense...........................0

First we had the Blunderer Byers Ruining Railtrack, now we have the legacy from Brown the Bottler who has Busted the Bank and has nil in the coffers after selling off OUR Gold reserves at half their value. To compound it we are left with Darling the Ditherer, or more aptly, Darling the Richardhead Raping the Taxpayer.

When will the good people of this country learn and stand up for themselves?

Anto Muller, Wakefield,

Nice one Gordon.
Nice one son
Nice one Gordon
Let's pay out £100m for nothing.

CM, London,

My heart bleeds for the Hedge funds

Derek, Macaé, Brasil

As a SIPP investor holding several thousand devalued shares, I am appalled by recent Government gerrymandering in Northern Rock which has resulted in millions of pounds being paid in fees and salaries.

The accepted method of supporting a commercial organisation is by shareholding investment or loan, therefore the correct way to gain control of Northern Rock would be through share purchase at market price.

The present situation of gaining control by favouring savings investors and marginalising shareholding investors is simple theft by a dishonest Government regime.

When ministers lose the ability to differentiate right from wrong, it is time to resign from public office.

K Wells, Sevenoaks, Kent

The Chancellor should lose his job for a start.

RB, Aberdeen,

so, are you embarassed for this nationalisation?

riccardo, brussels,

My Father in law had an equity release with Northorn Rock - he unfortunately passed away in October and we have been trying to pay off his equity release every since - we want to pay them, but they don't seem to want to take it - how many more like us are there? and how many would it take to clear the debts!!!!

Neil Matthews, Southend on Sea, Essex

Northern Rock is quite obviously the Governments runaway train and its going to take some stopping: what I woulod like to see is a a very clear and detailed explanation as to why neither of the two private takeover bids were rejected as, however good or bad they were, they must be preferable to this ?

Mark Mugliston, Ipswich, UK

When most of us find it difficult to earn more than $100,000 per year and indeed many far less than this, it is difficult to see why it would cost  $200 million to advise the government.on one small problem. That suggests  there are  2000 people beavering away for one whole year to give the government the best advice! Let us say we pay 10 people $2 million each to come up with good advice, it is still far less than $200 million apparently being paid by the government.  That does suggest that some people in our society are more equal than others.and have friends in high places.  Now is there anyone out there who would pay me $2 million for good advice?

Brian Lewis, Manila, Philippines

The lunacy of lending money to people who can't afford to pay it back is encapsulated in the Northern Rock website comments, which include - "Poor credit rating? No Problem!"

Now we have the debacle of delayed decisions making the disaster worse!

How many people have lost homes in the USA? Many thousands have lost their jobs because of this disaster.

How many people have lost their jobs here? How many will now lose their jobs because of crass decisions by Northern Rock and our government?

"No Problem"?

John Boucher, South Wales, UK

Nayional Rock should henceforth be called what it is: Nationalised Rock.

Noel Falconer, COUIZA, France

Northern Rock went bankrupt.The shareholders should receive nothing!There is that old saying that the value of shares can go down as well as up!

S Needham, London, UK

This Northern Rock saga is going at a rate of knots, from bad to worse. Darling MUST resign he is a Jonah in government and should be got rid of before he creates another catastrophe. Darling, face facts you're out of your depth, go and run a sweet shop, or maybe not,working out the right change might be a problem

And in future Mr Brown, leave market forces to decide the fate of any business, bank or no bank. If this had been the case then there would have been business to business negotiations to resolve the problem. When the government, with as much business sense as my dog, gets involved, failure ensues.
Mark my words we the taxpayers will lose hand over fist over this debacle. Some years to pay back as Mr Sandler advises, for 'some years' read 20 if ever. That is apart from the never ending costs of litigation.
Lastly if Darling can bail out NR he should by rights bail any UK business out.

david, wellington, uk

Merrill Lynch is to receive fees as an advisor to Northern Rock. That is the same firm that on July 25th. recommended Northern Rock shares as a BUY with a price target of 1,130p.
I wonder how many people have lost money after taking Merrill Lynch´s investment advice.

Keith McNally, Bogota, Colombia